Training Therapists in GFPP and Building GFPP Skills

This chapter discusses the training of therapists based on the authentic commitment to promoting client well-being. Experiential learning of Goal Focused Positive Psychotherapy (GFPP) principles facilitates allegiance to this model. Goal Focused Positive Supervision (GFPS) is offered as a new model emphasizing supervisee strengths, approach goals, capitalizing on successes, and hopefulness. A supervision case example is given to illustrate GFPS. Supervisee training includes a developmental orientation to autonomy, relatedness, and competence. Expansion of traditional supervision models includes attention to positive supervisee events and strengths. The contagious relationship between client hope and therapist hope is highlighted. Therapist hope is required to build the therapeutic alliance. Training includes the promotion of essential GFPP therapist skills, and training methods are suggested. The Partners for Change Outcome Management System is useful in training and therapy to measure client progress toward well-being and alliance formation.

Major Techniques and Interventions

This chapter present the techniques and interventions of Goal Focused Positive Psychotherapy (GFPP). Highlighted are the therapist’s intentions to emphasize the client’s strengths and to facilitate the expression of positive emotions, hope, and goals while focusing on the therapeutic alliance. Psychotherapy is not viewed as a set of potent scripted treatments that act upon the client. The therapeutic techniques include nonverbal communication, mirroring, open and closed questions, paraphrase and reflection, challenge, summarizing, empathy, interpretation, self-disclosure, immediacy, information giving, and direct guidance. The interventions include capitalization, self-affirmation, formula-first-session-task, reframing, success-finding, encouragement, visualizing success, miracle question, scaling questions, best-possible-self, count your blessings, self-compassion, and mindfulness. The practitioner is urged to use GFPP’s theoretical model to guide the treatment intentions and use any techniques and interventions that fit with the client and the GFPP model.

Introducing Goal Focused Positive Psychotherapy

This chapter provides an overview of the philosophy and foundational premises of Goal Focused Positive Psychotherapy. Goal Focused Positive Psychotherapy is described as a comprehensive psychotherapy model built primarily upon positive psychology principles to optimize well-being, which diminishes the effects of psychological distress. The theory of change is the Broaden-and-Build Theory of positive emotions. The therapeutic process promotes client strengths, hope, and positive emotions in order to assist the client in attaining goals, making growth toward goals in psychotherapy and life more enjoyable. Issues of ethics, psychological metaphor, therapeutic alliance, client context, and a case example of a client with posttraumatic stress disorder are presented.

The Foundational Constructs of Goal Focused Positive Psychotherapy

Chapter 2 presents the theory behind Goal Focused Positive Psychotherapy (GFPP), a technique that facilitates clients’ thriving by creating a happier, meaningful life. Psychotherapy can help clients to enjoy a lifetime of well-being and growth toward their meaningful, virtuous goals through positive emotions. The Broaden-and-Build Theory of positive emotions serves as the change mechanism for GFPP. It is important to select goals for therapy based upon client values and personal meaning (approach goals and intrinsic goals). Using clients’ personal strengths (including their culture) is of central importance, as is the promotion of hope in usually demoralized clients. The implicit theory of personal change or the growth mindset includes the belief in neural or brain plasticity. Self Determination Theory sets out competence, relatedness, and autonomy as the three determinants of motivation and the fundamental psychological needs.

Goal Focused Positive Psychotherapy Case Examples

This chapter presents four case examples that illustrate the key principles of Goal Focused Positive Psychotherapy (GFPP). The formation of the therapist–client relationship is highlighted. Strengths are identified in the midst of the client describing problems. Approach goals are identified and positive emotions elicited based upon client readiness. Each therapist’s approach fits the client’s concerns and strengths. The client’s initial concerns form the beginning for the strength-oriented journey. Techniques such as positive empathy are used to identify the client’s desires. Client desires are understood to be in juxtaposition with client difficulties. GFPP is used within the context unique to each client. Client contexts can be conceptualized as comprising client problems, complaints, and difficulties, along with client strengths, assets, and culture. At the end of the chapter a synthesis statement assesses the common threads and distinctive qualities of the four cases.

Conclusion and Future Directions

The final chapter presents empirical support for Goal Focused Positive Psychotherapy (GFPP) in comparison to cognitive-behavioral therapy and short-term psychodynamic therapy. Topics for future research and development are addressed. The GFPP orientation toward the client and skills to enact the orientation are discussed. The three primary pathways of the Contextual Model, a meta-theory of psychotherapy, are used to outline future research. Pathway 1 describes the importance of forming a real relationship between the therapist and client. Pathway 2 consists of the client’s expectations of benefit that are created through therapeutic techniques. The final pathway is the client’s change through participating in the therapy interventions. Treatment model validity issues are reviewed by examining therapists’ therapy model allegiance versus treatment integrity. Assessing the therapist’s competence as an ability to facilitate GFPP experiences for the client is examined. Finally, areas of growth for GFPP are discussed, including a better integration of systems theory.